Best Friend
by ihatetragicendings
Summary: The Best Friends of our favourite trio. Katniss reflects on her relationship with Gale over the years, gale talks about his friendship and supposed attraction to Katniss, and Peeta reminisces about his days with Delly. please people R&R
1. Chapter 1

Gale was my best friend. As much as I would like to say that he still is to be honest I can't. The Capitol took that from me as well. He was my best-friend and I miss him dearly.

When my dad died and my mom fell into depression, he was my one and only confidante. He was the only person I could trust and the only person who I let in except Prim. He was the older brother that I always wanted but never got. He was my best friend.

He helped me feed my broken family and raise Prim. He became the father-figure that cruelty stole from her. He was the closest thing to a Knight-In-Shining-Armour in my life. We both grew up and I started to see him in a different light. After all he was a handsome boy. He became more, but first-and-foremost he was my best friend.

My values and ideals prevented me from ever expressing my feelings to him, so I hid behind the mask of Katniss Everdeen. Anyways he saw me _only_ as a best friend.

He talked about kids and running away together and I got the feeling that my emotions weren't as unrequited as I had presumed, but I was scared of admitting that, even to myself, so I gave him my standard replies and told myself that he was _only_ my best friend.

And then Prim got reaped and I volunteered for her, and when his words were cut off while saying "_Katniss, remember I—_"my suspicions were confirmed. I slowly started accepting my feelings for him. He was my best friend and more, and I would have to come back to him no matter what the cost.

Then I started interacting with Peeta Mellark, my fellow tribute and the boy who had been the first ray of sunshine in my starving and depressed world. Somehow, I forgot about a certain More-Than-Best-Friend. We became friends as well as the Star-Crossed lovers of District 12. We acted and fought and loved and by a miracle became the victors of the 74th hunger games. Somehow I realized that Peeta Mellark did not co-exist well with my best friend.

He didn't understand me anymore, he thought I lived in the lap of luxury that the horror was over, and he didn't see that now I lived in the lap of horror itself. He was bitter and angry and hateful, maybe it was because, I had seen a happier and calmer and more loving boy and had a comparison point now, but I knew that deep-down Gale was a good guy and loved me a lot. After all he _was_ my best friend. Right?

As Peeta and I grew closer Gale withdrew from me more and more. There was no ease anymore and the openness and intimacy were long dead. Peeta actually understood me, he knew what I was going through, because he was going through the same thing, and yet he managed to be so sunny and cheer _me_ up as wel . And then President Snow announced the Quarter Quell, and Gale became the least of my worries. To keep Peeta alive was my dying wish and vice-versa. The kisses came naturally now and nothing was scripted anymore. My heart realized that Peeta was my best friend now.

But gale still used to be my best friend and I miss him.


	2. Chapter 2

Pre-interview jitters were a constant in his life. Since people started interviewing him after Katniss made it to the top 8 of the 74th hunger games he hadn't been able to shake these things.

He had received the job of rewiring and redesigning Panem's security system. And as usual the capitol press was hell bent on filming every moment of his life in so-called celebration. His PR manager had granted them an interview to get them off his back. He didn't want to but it was for the greater good.

The bright spotlights hit his face, and there on the beanbagesque chair sat Caesar Flickerman in all his glory. Gale approached him and as he was revealed to the audience, the ear-deafening cheers became roars.

"Ahhh. Gale Hawthorne. It's such a pleasure to see u again!" Flickerman remarked in his usual manner. "Yes, Yes, Caesar. It's a relief to see a familiar face in the changing times of Panem!" I replied with a fake smile plastered on my face. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence at Caesar Flickerman: Celebrity Tell-Alls". "Tell-All!" I mentally screamed. "I am going to kill Beatrice". "My pleasure, Caesar, my pleasure" I replied.

"I hear that you bagged the big job, Gale". "It is indeed my honour, Caesar to serve the citizens of this noble nation, and god willing I shall succeed in this endeavour". I was saying what my manager, Beatrice had instructed me to. How could it be in an honour for me to serve the very Capitol citizens who had drawn entertainment from the suffering of my neighbours, my friends and… my best friend.

I only took the job because the districts were in dire need of better security, because the rebellion may have improved governance but infrastructure had been majorly damaged. And many people had been left unemployed and crime rates had seen a major increase.

"I sure hope so, Gale. But, tell me is it all work and no play with a job like yours?" Caesar quirked an eyebrow. My mouth moved of it's own accord when I replied "It's not the job, Caesar. I don't want to have fun." "Such a handsome and intelligent lad like you doesn't want to have fun! C'mon, Gale. Tell us the truth" he pressed. I don't know why but my mouth had gone into auto-pilot now, something about Caesar's easy-going nature was making me say things I never dreamt of saying to anyone before. "I only ever wanted to have fun with one person and I could never have her" I replied quietly.

What had I just blurted out on National Television! Had I lost my mind!

"Am I right in assuming, Gale, that the person in question is Panem's very own Mockingjay?"

Mocking jay. The very word that lay at the foundation of the destruction of my relationship with Katniss. I hadn't talked about her or two her in one year, yet she was the reason nothing in life held any deep value to me anymore. The feelings and emotions of hurt and depression- that I sought to avoid at all costs by throwing myself into work—hit with full-force. I needed to talk, I realized, bottling up my emotions was not doing me any good. Thus the rarely seen irrational and emotional side of Gale Hawthorne decided to talk. On National Television.

"Is that even a question, Caesar? " I muttered quietly, but the capitol mike managed to pick it up.

He nodded understandingly. "You know, Gale, we never got to hear about you and Katniss. Tell us, did you guys start out as friends or," he paused to smile "or something more?"

"Neither. We barely could tolerate each other in the beginning. We just went with it because the daily haul was better and two's always better than one. But somewhere in the middle we started building a certain trust, an ease that I haven't been able to recreate with anyone else, till date. And she was such a great friend. Fiercely loyal, and unique in every aspect. "

"So what drove you to fall in love with her?"

"I'm sure the entire country knows about all the different kinds of beauty Katniss Everdeen possesses. Her outer beauty though, is nothing comapared to how beautiful she is on the inside. Caesar, I think the question is not "what drove me to fall in love with her" but "what didn't".

"I agree. That young lady is one of a kind."

"So what are your feelings towards Peeta Mellark?"

"If I could've then I would've hated Peeta with a passion. But Mellark's so overtly nice that it is exceedingly difficult to do so. So I guess envy is what I feel I feel towards him"

"Do u ever feel like you have somehow been wronged?"

"As much as I would like to believe so, Caesar, I can't blame anyone for the end of my friendship with Catnip, other than myself of course. I don't know the person she's become, let alone understand it."

The next few hours are a blur, soon I'm in my bed wondering if Catnip had watched the interview. Haunting dreams of grey-eyed, brown haired children consume me that night.


End file.
